Will Trump get a third supreme court pick?

With the nomination of Brett Kavanaugh for supreme court justice, Trump is set to cement his significant influence on the highest court in the land. Once Kavanaugh is confirmed, the probable outcome given the Republican controlled Senate, Trump will have made as many appointments in two years as Barack Obama did in two full terms.

The result of those nominations has left us with a supreme court that leans towards the right, with a majority of sitting justices nominated by Republican presidents. This wind of change brings a conservative sway for decades that will only get stronger if Trump, who is not even halfway into his first term, could secure a third pick.

The deadline

A position on the supreme court becomes available when one of the nine sitting justices resigns, retires or dies. Once a position becomes vacant, the president nominates someone whom the Senate will then either confirm or reject. It took four months for Neil Gorsuch, Trump’s first pick for the supreme court, to be confirmed. In order for Trump to lock down a third pick, a spot would have open up by July 2020, before the election in November of that year.

So whose spot is most likely to be vacated?

Breyer crosses the average retirement age

Justice Anthony Kennedy, whose recently announced retirement created the spot for Kavanaugh, retired at 81 – an age Breyer will hit before 2020. Kennedy’s retirement was far from an outlier, with…

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